BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fidelity Investments® today announced Fidelity AccessSM, a convenient and more secure way for Fidelity clients to see and use their Fidelity account information, such as balances and holdings, on third-party financial websites and applications that aggregate financial information, such as those used for budgeting, financial planning, analyzing spending, tax preparation, and generating portfolio advice.
As third-party financial websites and applications begin to use Fidelity Access, Fidelity clients will no longer need to provide those sites and applications with their Fidelity log-in credentials – their account usernames and passwords - in order to share their Fidelity account information. Instead, when clients choose to access their Fidelity account information through a financial website or application that participates in Fidelity Access, they will automatically be linked to Fidelity and can then quickly and easily authorize Fidelity to provide that site or application with access to their Fidelity account information; they can even designate the specific Fidelity accounts to which they want to offer access. Once Fidelity receives that authorization, Fidelity Access will allow that financial website or application to access the client’s Fidelity account information through a secure connection.
Fidelity Access lets clients maintain control over the access they provide to their account information. On the Fidelity Access control center, which will be located on Fidelity’s websites, Fidelity.com, NetBenefits.com and WealthscapeInvestor.com1 , clients will be able to see which third-party websites or applications they have authorized to access their Fidelity account information and can change or remove those permissions at any time.
“We see great and growing opportunities for everyone to benefit from innovation enabled by secure data sharing solutions, such as Fidelity Access, which are based on open technology standards. Today, there are a range of financial websites and applications that investors and financial advisors use, which aggregate data from clients’ various financial accounts, wherever they are held,” said Stuart Rubinstein, Head of Data Aggregation at Fidelity Investments. “We want to make sharing Fidelity account data with these sites and applications convenient and more secure, while giving our clients control over that process. Fidelity Access does just that – there’s no longer any need for clients to share their Fidelity account usernames and passwords with third-party financial sites and applications, and clients can quickly and easily review and manage which sites and applications have access. With major data breaches exposing more and more people to ever greater risk, and the demand for data sharing solutions poised to accelerate, the time is right for Fidelity Access.”
Committed to A Smooth Transition to Fidelity Access
Fidelity is committed to a smooth transition for clients and third-party financial sites and applications. There is no need for Fidelity clients to make any changes or take any action at this time. Fidelity will keep clients informed as third-party financial websites and applications move to Fidelity Access, including advising them of any steps they may need to take, such as re-authorizing third-party financial sites and applications to access information from their Fidelity accounts.
Fidelity is working with third-party financial websites and applications to enable them to connect through Fidelity Access, which is available now; sites and applications may connect to it as soon as they want. To protect clients, third-party firms that want to connect to Fidelity Access must adhere to strict security standards; destroy any user IDs and passwords previously acquired from Fidelity clients; and assume responsibility for handling Fidelity client data they receive, including liability should that data be breached, compromised or misused after they’ve received it. Participating financial websites and applications will not be charged by Fidelity for using Fidelity Access; once they agree to its requirements, websites and applications can access Fidelity client account data through Fidelity Access without charge.
When the roll-out of Fidelity Access is complete, Fidelity will no longer permit third-party financial websites and applications to use Fidelity account usernames and passwords to access information from Fidelity accounts. Fidelity expects to complete the roll-out in 2018.
About Fidelity Investments
Fidelity’s mission is to inspire better futures and deliver better outcomes for the customers and businesses we serve. With assets under administration of $6.6 trillion, including managed assets of $2.4 trillion as of October 31, 2017, we focus on meeting the unique needs of a diverse set of customers: helping more than 26 million people invest their own life savings, 23,000 businesses manage employee benefit programs, as well as providing more than 12,500 financial advisory firms with investment and technology solutions to invest their own clients’ money. Privately held for 70 years, Fidelity employs more than 40,000 associates who are focused on the long-term success of our customers. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit https://www.fidelity.com/about.
Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC
900 Salem
Street, Smithfield, RI 02917
Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, Inc.,
500
Salem Street, Smithfield, RI 02917
National Financial Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC,
200 Seaport
Boulevard, Boston, MA 02110
823809.1.1
© 2017 FMR LLC. All rights reserved.
1 Wealthscape Investor is the Fidelity website for clients of correspondent broker-dealers that use Fidelity Custody and Clearing Services.
